New Hampshire looks for answers behind oyster outbreaks

MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press

Published
2:13 am CST, Sunday, December 4, 2016

DURHAM, N.H. (AP) — A team of New Hampshire researchers is hoping their work in finding disease-causing bacteria in New Hampshire waters leads to a system that will eventually alert the industry when a dangerous pathogen is in the waters.

The work of the scientists at the University of New Hampshire comes as the number of cases of people falling ill from eating raw oysters has spiked.

Researchers found that cases of disease from certain harmful bacteria strains have increased from five in New England in 2000 to 147 in 2013. They worry climate change has warmed waters so much, the disease-causing bacteria are spreading.

Oyster farmers say predictive models would be beneficial to the industry but that technology may never come.